Raw Power
by Cooljoanna18
Summary: Maul will not leave the boy alone. Not with that much raw power... not with another chance to having a brother.


Anger always kept him alive.

From the moment as a child trained to be a sith assassin, to the cursed junkyard where he was left to die, to when his brother died in his arms.

Well anger and grief for the last part.

Finding a isolated place after being freed from the prison the empire put him in was difficult, escape came at the price of his own mother. The planet was gushing with life, the jungle untangled with vines, prey and predator alike scrambling along.

Maul was meditating, reflecting. He was no longer in his prime (but he was still powerful), what would he hope to achieve if he was able to somehow overpower the empire and rule in its place. He would merely die by the hands of challengers or of old age.

What was his legacy. _Legacy._ Something that would live on forever. Not just a mere story that scared kids at night, but a symbol of power that soon followers would flock to learn.

A way to live on forever in history.

While yes, taking the the empire would put his name in history it simply did not satisfy Maul. After all he went through, he had higher expectations.

He even got cut in half.

 _And yet you survived_ echo the voice of his dead brother. A memory passed of the time his brother rescue him from insanity.

" _You are the brother I've been searching for"_

Maul almost let out a sorrowful cry as he heard voices of the past in his head.

" _You have been lost, my brother. Do you remember who you are? Where you came from"_

His eyes shut tightly, remembering the first time they met.

" _You can begin again, brother"_ enraged with anger Maul leaped up and roared to the skies.

After what seem like hours, even though it must of been minutes Maul fell to the ground and rasped out, "how brother… If you are there…. What should I do?"

" _Don't worry, I've got this!"_

Maul's eyes shaped open, that did not sound like, his dead brother or mother. It sounded like a boy.

" _Maul_ " another voice, a female voice.

"Mother?" Nightsister Magic must be involved somehow, this was not the first time.

" _Malachor_ "

Just like that the voices were gone. Malachor? The sith temple was there and somewhere among the rubble and dust was ancient knowledge.

But to get there Maul needed an apprentice.

Echoes of the boy's voice resurfaced. Very well Maul conclude He shall go and see.

Getting up Maul walk away in search of a ship, no one would notice a dead pilot and missing ship. Nobody important that is.

-time skip-

Finding a transport ship was easy enough, just as easy as disposing the body. Sadly enough Maul had a feeling that a inquisitor caught whiff of his plan and was slowly tailing him. The wannabe sith had no idea where Maul was going. Due to the fact that he did not attack Maul, Maul conclude that the inquisitor is watching closely at what Maul will do.

Now that simply wouldn't do.

Maul made the decision to ignore the inquisitor and let it live…. For now.

While in hyperspace Maul took it within himself to catch up with The galaxies news at a holonet.

He did not expect to hear the boy's voice. From what He can gather for the holonet and fill in the blanks, there is a pathica rebellion that apparently had a Jedi and a youngling.

The youngling did not look like much, darkish blue hair with blue eyes, in the boy's wanted poster he had a imperial uniform and a scowl on his face.

Ezra Bridger.

Something in the force pulled, Maul could not figure out where. Maul could really care less about the boy, just another pest that he would have to kill.

But that's when he came across a record message that the boy spoke to the surrounding galaxies. The boy was persistent, Maul would admit that.

Breaking into the atmosphere of the planet Maul look around for a hidden place to Hide the ship.

He didn't expect to get a vision of the past.

 _The boy was_ _defending an unconscious person who must've been his master from the Grand Inquisitor_

" _You're not going near him!" Exclaimed the boy as he drew his master's saber only to have the Inquisitor disarms Ezra easily and advances on him with lightsabers drawn_

" _I believe I am; in fact, it's time to end both Jedi and Padawan...for good! Your devotion to your Master is admirable, but it will not save you...nothing can!"_

 _The Inquisitor pushes Ezra back to the edge of a cliff with the Force._

" _Get back!" The boy shouted… Angry?_

 _The Inquisitor grinning said "Ah yes, good, unleash your anger!"_

 _Chuckling he continue "I will teach you what your Master could not."_

" _You don't have anything to teach me!"_

" _The darkness is too strong for you, boy; it is swallowing you up, even now.  
Afraid the boy shook his head, "No...!"_

" _Your Master will die…"_

" _No!"_

" _Your friends will die, and everything you've hoped for will be lost! This is the way the story ends!"_

" _NO!"_

 _The force sang as the darkness flood in the boy's resolve._

Maul's eyes ripped open in a slight gasp as his ship hit the ground, it was easy to escape the burning aircraft, but now Maul was stranded on the planet.

-time-skip-

He sense the group of force sensitive pair before the boy fell down the hole.

The commotion above must of been the inquisitor. Maul watch with mildly interest and slight confusion in the dark, is not the boy force sensitive? He could not detect the force in the boy! Did he hid his presence?

"Kanan!"

"Ezra! - Ezra, can you hear me"

Groaning the boy (who name was clearly Ezra) said "I'm okay. He's getting away, let's go! Don't worry about me, I'll catch up!"

I heard the two other light side user continue their chase with the inquisitor.

A sigh escape the from the boy as he mumbled to himself, "Sure, I'll catch up.  
Soon as I figure out where I am."

At that moment Maul decide to reveal his present, changing his voice to sound like a old man.

"I know where you are. You're with me."

The boy wisely activated his lightsaber pointing at Maul, Maul resisted the urge to sneer and roll eyes, instead chuckled before saying,

"Please put your weapon away. I-I mean you no harm."

"Stay back! I'm warning you, old man."

The boy clearly did not trust him, which made sense he just met him.

'It was a good thing I wore this cloak', Maul briefly mused, he has been told that he looked and fought like the devil.

Thinking of a suitable sob story Maul begin saying, "Forgive me, it-It's just, I've been alone so long. It's been years since I've spoken to anyone."

If anything that made the boy more suspicious, he narrowed his eyes not hiding the fact that he was sceptical in disbelief saying,

"You live here alone? Uh, in the dark?"

"Not by choice." I reassured, "My ship crashed. I'm trapped, marooned."

I paused before continuing, "I've had to scrounge and scrape to survive."

Jedi are well known for helping those who seem in trouble so Maul was hoping that the boy would offer aid, but to Maul's surprise this boy was not that easy to bend and trick.

"Look, I'm sorry...Okay? I wish I could help you, but I have to get back to my friends."

Not missing a beat Maul decide that he would come along, in case the boy had information he needed.

"Well, perhaps I could help you."  
he heard a scoff from the boy "I doubt that."

The boy deem maul as a threat careful to look around with his sabers light, but also careful to watched maul from the corner of his eye.

In all his life he never really met a Jedi that was not Jedi like, the boy was young but not young enough to be a youngly. He notice that the boy did have some rips in his orange pilot suit and was skinnier than the average.

Out of general curiosity He questioned the boy "Why are you here?"

Immediately the boy retort, "I'm not gonna tell you that."  
distrust still in the air.

This was a sith temple, filled with plenty of knowledge over the sith. The biggest enemy to the boy would be a sith. Chance are the boy and his master is looking for the sith holocron. Wait, the master would never allow that, chances are that they know there is knowledge but not that it is a sith holocron. The boy most likely does not even know what a holocron is.

Trying to gather the boy's attention he stated, "You came for the same reason I did, years ago. You seek knowledge."

The boy paused before turning to Maul with a look of… Hunger in his eyes… For the knowledge.

"It's in the temple, isn't it?"

Maul smiled in triumph before saying, "I know the secret way to get inside, but, but I'm too old. I-I-I Need help to open the door."

To be honest Maul's main plan was to simply threaten the boy once they walk to the temple, so that he could open the doors. To be honest Maul decide to do that if the child is unable to lift the door with the light side.

He was snapped out of musing as the boy question, "What's inside?"

"Help me and find out." Maul said, not willing to reveal that piece of information. "Show me this doorway."

"Please, this way." He gestured ahead.

"You first." The child snap

"Do you not trust me?" Maul question.

The boy glared at Maul distrust in his bright blue eyes.

"I don't know you."

"Well, then let's change that. Call me "Old Master. And you?" Already knowing his name is Ezra .

"Call me "Jabba."

"Hmm." Maul mused as he remember one time having Jabba the Hutt himself fear Maul, "Come then, Jabba".

It did not take long for the boy to talk again while leading him to the sith door.

"How much further?"

Maul did not have to use the force to see 'Jabba's nervousness'

"You worry about your friends?"

"They need my help" the boy state in a matter of fact tone. Maul figured that with all the strength of the empire any help to the rebellion would be important. Even a naive boy.

"Yes, and with good reason. The Inquisitor is powerful."

"Wait, you know about the Inquisitor?"

'Okay maybe not that naive' he reminded himself.

"He is my enemy." Images of any rival red blade flashed in his mind, "All Inquisitors and their masters are my enemies."

Uncertain with a conclusion in his head, the boy questioned, "Were you a Jedi?"

"Uh, no. No, no." How was he suppose to explain to the boy that he once was the most powerful being in the galaxy.

"But I was once a Force-wielder, long ago. Long, long ago."

"Then you're a Sith?" the boy put his lightsaber well between himself ready to defend. But Maul was merely lost in memory, Of his mother's death… his Brother's.

"The Sith... The Sith took everything from me Ripped me from my mother's arms, murdered my brother, used me as a weapon, and then cast me aside", lost in memory Maul continue,

"Abandoned me… Once, I had power, now I have nothing… Nothing"

The Jedi, The Sith, The empire all ruin any chance of his life with his remaining family. Everytime he was close to victory the jedi took it away, the emperor crushed his hope. The sith ruin his life.

Maul finally felt annoyed with the boy, he had half a mind to get his lightsaber and strike the boy down just to be alone.

"I know how you feel" the boy said with empathy, with understanding.

Maul froze, not expecting to feel the boy's pain, sadness, and suffering through the force.

"The Empire, it took away my home, and my mother, and my father"

This was what drive the boy. His anger kept him alive as well.

"And you want revenge" Maul question, wondering if the boy felt the same.

"I want justice!"

The boy was taken up by a jedi, the jedi might of confuse the boy between justice and revenge. 'But not for long' Maul vow, 'I will free the boy from the jedi'

"Yes, yes! And you shall have it, - for I have discovered the key."

"The key to what?" The boy's eye lit up with a thirst for knowledge. For just a second he saw his little brother.

"The key to destroying the Sith." With hidden glee he saw the boy lit up with excitement through the force.

"That is the knowledge inside the temple!"

" Yes, that temple holds secrets of the Sith, secrets that have been buried with the dead for thousands of years."

"And you'll share this knowledge with me?" The boy's eyes were filled with hope, for his own revenge-or justice as he call it.

"Yes. Yes, of course."

-slight time skip-

"Whoa."

The boy exclaim with the size and atmosphere of the place

"A place of worship for some.

To others, an engine of destruction.

But at its heart, our prize."

Maul explain, not,yet ready to reveal what s holocron was

"How do we get in?" The child look around for any clues.

"Two must lift these stones. No more, no less. That is the way of the Sith."

The suspicion the was briefly gone from the boy came back,

"You seem to know an awful lot about them."

Maul was willing to give a plausible explanation, "To defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy...Even practice their beliefs."

"Yeah, my master wouldn't approve of that last part." Disregarding Mauls advice

"Then he is doomed to fail." Maul warned, sighing, "Now, young Jedi, help me."

The boy step forward and extend his arm, the force echo around the boy as he soon budge the door.

"I can't. It's too heavy."

The boy had anger with him but his master clearly prevent him from using it.

"Your anger is a wellspring. You must use it", The ex sith explain patiently

The boy look towards Maul (Maul's heart felt a tug as he saw the boy's uncertainty and fear) before

quietly saying "But a Jedi is never supposed to act out of emotion."

Thinking deeply maul tried his best to have the boy understand,

"Your passions give you strength...And through strength, you gain power", He pause briefly remembering the vision of the boy using the dark side, "You have seen it. You feel it. You must break your chains."

The boy close his s eyes gathering his hidden anger and suffering, the dark side hummed with approval.

"Yes", Maul whisper, "Use your power."

The boy power in the force stun Maul for a moment, this raw potential…. Hidden raw power that was too good to kill off.

And so the test began for the two force wielders.

Once walking in the boy exclaimed "A dead end!'

"Focus!" Maul quickly retort before lifting the next one.

"What do we do?"

Maul glanced back to see the child questioning on what to do with the first door.

"Release the one behind you."

"How many of these things are there?"

A flash of annoyances ran through, 'he is still just a mere boy' Maul child to himself, 'He can't live to every expectation'

"Unless you take risks, do what must be done, there will always be limits to your abilities.

Seize the the power."

Maul tried to secretly test his new force bond with the boy that they formed getting past the doors,

"Do not become like me, Jabba."

Just like that Maul was ready to move on, the boy… his apprentice talked again

"My name's Ezra" stuttering slightly before finishing, "My real name".

Maul froze, it was the honesty that hit him with a memory, yet he had a hard time remembering from where.

"Real name? Yes, I once had a real name...So long ago, I don't remember."

" _Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice. I'm not like you, brother. I never was…"_

"Now, now I am called Maul"

"Behold the key." Maul told ezra as they stood before the final test.

"It's a holocron " Ezra stated slightly surprise.

"You know of them?", Maul was impressed, his apprentice seem to be fill with surprises.

"Yeah. My master has one, but it's different."

Master.

That one word could be a set back to Maul's plan, but just a set back.

"Because this is a Sith holocron, one that holds all their secrets" He explained.

"Well, how do we get to it?"

" It is a test. Only someone with the courage to risk oblivion is worthy to claim it."

For Thousands of years no sith was able to reach it, this would be no easy task.

"Throw me"

Startled Maul stared at his apprentice.

"Yeah, throw me. I'll jump, and then you use The Force to throw me. My master and I do it all the time….Well, a few times anyway." The boy tried to convince.

Maul was just marveling at the fact of how easy it was to retrieve the holocron now.

"Look, we can do this."

Nodding off in understanding Maul and ezra both got ready for their roles.

A feeling of thrill enter Maul as he saw the boy take up the holocron, that emotion was quickly replaced with a feeling of worry as a trap was activated.

"Jump!" Maul shouted over the noise

"I won't make it!" ezra shouted -fear emitting for the child's body in the force-

"I-I can't!"

"Trust me!" Maul emphasized yelling sending calmness toward his apprentice through the force.

The boy took a breath before taking the leap of pure faith, and with help with the force Maul was able to grab the boy and the holocron… and pause looking at the boy.

He would never be like his brother Savage… But maybe close.

"There was nothing to fear. You were wise to trust me."

In the end his plan was put to a major set back from his apprentice's old master.

Whom Maul found as a distasteful human hovering over the boy constantly. Not trusting the boy's raw power.

Snuffing out the potential in Maul's eye.

Maul will not leave the boy alone.

Not with that much raw power… not with another chance to having a brother.


End file.
